Remodel
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Natsu and Happy don't use their little house out in the woods much, since he married Lucy and all. There has to be a good use for it though. Right? - One-shot, Part of the Remember Me Series.


The night had been rather hectic in the Dragneel house, what with Natsu arriving home so late with Happy from a job, which excited Navi who accidentally woke her brothers and then Lucy only had to sigh some as it was up to her to get everyone calmed back down. It took more than a few hours.

Which meant the next morning was calm and silent. Navi awoke early, as she always did, to find both her parents and twin brothers still snoozing, while Happy only complained when she tumbled out of the bed they shared.

"Navi," he whispered as she got ready to head out. "Where are you going? Aren't you sleepy too?"

"I have to meet with Haven and Locke." Then, with a frown, she added, "And Ravan, I guess."

"So early?"

"Yeah. So early."

"Can't you skip it?"

"No." And she came back over to the bed then, to cover him over with the blankets better. Scratching behind one of the feline's ears, she whispered, "Can you tell Mom and Dad where I am?"

"Yeah," he yawned, drifting right back off. "Of course, Navi."

He was too tired to realize that he didn't quite know where it was he was supposed to inform Lucy of. This was by design, of course. Before she knew that they'd be home, she was hoping to just slip away from home without being noticed or with some coy wording. Now that Happy was there to at least somewhat cover for her, well, it was just easier to make him seem like the forgetful one and not her.

She was still fearful, as she left the room, of waking either her typically restless brothers or her parents. Her mother could sleep through most anything that wasn't the wails of her babies, but Natsu had a sense about him when it came to his oldest. If he wasn't completely conked out, he'd note her absence rather easily and possibly try and track her down.

It was rather early.

But she only slung her already packed knapsack over her shoulder and hoped for the best. It seemed to pay off, anyways, when neither of her parents came after her and she didn't hear either of the babies cry out when she gently shut the front door to the apartment. Letting out a long sigh, she only set out then, for the meet up spot. She was, as always, the first kid there. Which was just as well, honestly. Sitting on the curb of the random street corner, she sighed some and waited.

Haven and Locke could be heard before seen, coming together. She'd have never been able to get out of the Thunder God's house unnoticed, so they spent the night at Locke's that night, whose parents were far more understanding about these sorts of things. Gajeel hardly thought of the children as having restrictions so long as Locke adhered to the concept of what your old man says goes (or else) and Levy was more conscious of their movements, but always seemed to hear them out. The night before, Locke and Haven asked if they could go off training by themselves, early in the morning, and after glancing between the two children, she gave in, having Locke promise that they weren't getting into anything too terrible.

"Just," he assured her, "training."

He didn't like to lie to his mother. And he wasn't, really, anyways. Not truly. They would train. Sort of. Plus, when his mother insisted that he and Haven not fight much either, he only gritted his teeth and nodded.

"She is," his mother remarked with a bit of a frown after Haven had already left the room, though Locke only stood there, "the guild master's daughter."

"You can't exactly bring her out there to kill her," Lily agreed with a snicker. "Would kind of ruin our standing in the guild. You understand."

They were quiet too though, Haven and Locke were, when they got up. Locke woke first, at the sound of his tiny alarm clock, and accidentally (well, kind of; he enjoyed it anyways) stepped on Haven from where she slept in a sleeping back on his floor, which made her shock him and they were so close to a brawl.

Before they remembered that they had something important to get to.

They took their sacks and left the house as quietly as possible (if they woke Gajeel, Locke would no doubt be punished), heading off to meet with Navi. On the way, of course, they took to grumbling at one another, over whether or not he'd stepped on her on purpose and, well, they were still glaring at one another when they met up with Navi.

"Great," she said with an easy grin as they came to stand before her, "you're both here. Now we just have to wait for-"

"Let's not." Locke already knew they'd have a hard enough time with Haven there. He really wasn't into the idea of dragging Ravan along with them. "Let's just ditch him. He'll never find us."

That was true and though Navi would feel awful bad through doing so, she was rather fine with the idea. It wouldn't be nice and she rarely liked to hurt people's feelings, but Ravan would get over it. He seemed resound to the idea that they all hated him anyways.

"We can't," Haven retorted simply and, with her arms crossed, she only shrugged some. "We need him."

"For what?" Locke griped, glaring at her, but they didn't have a long wait on finding out, anyways. The came walking down the street soon enough. Only, he wasn't alone. The kids, truthfully, were just thankful the person he had with him wasn't Kai.

Because they did _not_ want to put up with the little boy all day.

"You brought," Haven sneered at him, "Erza with you?"

"No!" Ravan was rushing faster than the swordswoman then, towards the other children with a glare. "I didn't. She just-"

"I was finish my training, merely, when I ran into him," Erza answered simply as she approached the children. "But do not fret. I have not come to lecture you."

They were all doubtful.

"I am actually quite intrigued," the woman said simply. "This is a great undertaking."

"You told her?" Navi didn't mean to sound so betrayed (and by Ravan of all people), but she couldn't help it.

As he glared, the swordswoman merely shook her head.

"It is no matter, children," she assured them. "Ravan is my apprentice. You always tell your master everything. Should you not and they find out, well, there would be a debt to pay, for certain. If you cannot put your trust in your master, then your master cannot put their trust in you."

"It was the only way," he griped over her, "to get her machetes."

"I find it to be admiral, anyways," Erza insisted with a nod of her head. "I had already given him the machetes, but wished to accompany and wish you children well on your way. Do not, however, carve one another up. I do not see that as going well with your parents."

For all her bluntness, Erza did always seem to be on the children's side. More so than the other adults, at least. Or at least was the easiest to dupe. She merely wished them well and agreed to not mention their destination to their parents.

"Wouldn't matter," Ravan remarked simply after the woman had departed and they were alone, "if she did."

"What do you mean?" Navi asked as Locke and Haven only walked ahead of them. Never mind the fact they didn't know where they were going and she was the one with the directions; no, they always walked ahead. Always. "If they found out, then-"

"I told her," he said with pride, "that we were going to go cut grass, in the forest. As a practice of discipline."

"Erza bought that?" Locke was rare to speak to the boy, but it was hard not to when he said shit like that.

Ravan only glared. "What'd you tell your parents then?"

"It doesn't matter." Haven wasn't going to let them derail her entire plan. "Just shut up and come on."

The whole thing had come about a few days prior when she and Navi were without the boys for once (Locke was training with his father and Ravan was out on a job), but they were supplemented, anyways, with the twin Dragneels, who the girls were helping her mother babysit. Lucy was getting lunch ready while Navi and Haven were playing with the boys in the living room, when the subject came up.

An apartment full of chaos, it seemed to constantly be in some state of disarray and now that the boys were toddling about, they got into things more often than not. They'd been caught playing in Natsu and Lucy's closet, where they unearthed a stack of photos that had never made it into an album or anything. Just were rubber banded together. It was just as Lucy was catching them in the act that Navi came home with Haven for lunch and, well, after requesting the girls help, she gave them the photos to look over if they wanted.

"Where's this?" Haven asked with evident disdain as she and Navi looked at a particularly rundown building. "Was this from some kind of job?"

Navi only giggled though, at the sight. She'd only been to the place a handful of times, when Natsu needed to dig up some of his buried jewels or Happy remembered a belonging that had been long forgotten in the place, but would recognize it anywhere.

"That," she said with a bright grin, "was Happy and Dad's place. Before they moved in with my mom."

"Where is it?"

"In the forest," Navi said as she took the photo from her friend, grinning up at it. "But it doesn't look like this anymore. It looks...well, worse. They don't go there anymore. No one does. It's abandoned, I guess."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy was back then, with a plate of sandwiches for the girls and to come wrangle the twins into their highchairs int eh kitchen. "Navi?"

Her only daughter just held up the photo though, showing it off, making the celestial mage grin at the sight.

"Oh, yeah, it's pretty abandoned," she giggled as she snatched Lucky up first. "Wow. I think I remember taking this picture. Your dad and Happy were so sad about leaving it, really leaving it, that I took a picture to remind them of it. Then those ingrates never even looked at it..."

Navi jumped then, to grab Iggy and bring him into the kitchen for her mother, while Haven was left on the living room floor. Lucy had dropped the old photograph and the girl only moved to snatch it back up, staring hard.

"Haven?" Navi asked as she came back to claim a sandwich off the plate. "What's wrong?"

"I have an idea," she whispered simply, but didn't elaborate. Not that day. It wouldn't be until the next, when the boys were back that she informed them all of it.

They were going to rebuild and re-purpose the house into their club house. Which, she knew, would be a lot of work. Work of which the others would more than doubt flake on (and she too would want to flake on, probably), but she'd just have to figure some way around that. She wasn't sure what that way was yet, but she'd get to it eventually.

Part of the whole thing though was that, if it was really going to be their secret clubhouse, then none of the adults could know about this. That was a pretty big one. She rallied the others to her side pretty easy with that one. At the moment, their main meet up places were either the guildhall, where they'd constantly have Master Laxus or Erza breathing down their necks about taking jobs and practicing their magics or Navi's house where, fine, they all liked it enough, even Ravan, but it was cramped there, most of the time. Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and the twins all lived there as well, after all, and there was hardly enough room for them and Navi. Though Lucy and Natsu never made complaints about their daughter's frequent guests (Natsu enjoyed them and Lucy was just glad to see her daughter's young life was spent in the complete opposite as hers), the kids all recognized their need for a place of their own.

One where the adults couldn't boss them around and they could just goof off as much as they wanted.

And fight. Fight a lot.

But they did that wherever they went.

"This place is shit," Ravan remarked. He was learning from Erza that blunt was the way to go. He just had the mouth of a sailor on top of it. "What are we going to do here?"

"Fix it up, idiot." Haven reached over to shove him when, after getting lost in the still quite dark woods (the sun was only just beginning to peak over the horizon), the kids arrived at the rundown little home that once housed the Salamander and his Exceed. It was, as Navi had cautioned, in terrible shape. The yard was overgrown, there were roots from nearby trees that seemed to have begun trying to take over the home. Windows were broken out and the rainfall over the years, as they would find out, had destroyed most of the inside. Still, as the others all seemed doubtful, Haven was certain of her plan. "What else is there to do?"

Go home. Back to the warm beds. But that would mean facing the wrath of the daughter of Raijin and, well, no one seemed to up for that that day as Ravan only rubbed at his arm and didn't even shove her back, though he did shoot her a look.

There would actually be a good reason for concern, were any other adult other than Erza involved (albeit absently). The kids hacked at the overgrown bush around the place with little care, taking turn with the sharp blades Erza had given them. Though Ravan trained with swords, he usually was instructed not to draw them on the other children and though this rule often went unheeded, it still existed for a reason.

The kids would be lucky to get through the day without a lost appendage or two.

That took up most the morning, honestly. It was backbreaking work. When they all sat in sweaty mass on the ground, it looked much better than it had before the sun hung in the sky, but still, there was a lot to do.

"What's even the point in this?" Ravan finally complained aloud after a few minutes of rest. Navi had been in charge of bringing snacks and from her bad had produced such. "Huh? Navi's dad isn't going to let us hang out here. And they will find out. The adults. Then what? We did all this for nothing."

"My dad will too," Navi insisted. When this got a glare from Haven, she was quick to add, "If I asked. But I didn't. But if he somehow found out, he woudln't care none."

"You don't have to be here, Ravan," Locke pointed out. He'd actually been thinking very similar things, but at the complaints of the other boy, decided to rebuke them instead. "Just leave."

"But," Haven was quick to add as, very quickly, she was losing her workforce, "if you don't help, you can't hang out here."

"And? Who wants to hang out here anyways?"

"You're such a baby." She was great at that, Haven was. Changing horses midstream. "Aw? Does it hurt your poor little hands to actually work? Are you gonna go cry to Erza?"

"Shut up! You hardly did anything."

"I'm," she yelled right back at him, "am the overseer. I don't have to do anything."

"It'd be nice," Navi whispered, "if you did something."

Luckily, Locke started talking before Haven had a chance to notice the other girl's dissidence.

"Anyone who doesn't wanna do this can just leave," the boy offered tentatively, more for Navi's sake, really. "Anyone who wants to can stay. But if you leave, you can't come back. And if you stay, no one can make you leave."

He was banking, Locke was, on Ravan running off then. He'd already made it clear that he wasn't enjoying himself and, well, if there was ever a line in the sand, that was it. In the recent months, he'd found that not only was the other boy insufferable, but he also seemed far more intent on lingering around them than he had in the past. Locke wasn't sure why this was, but he knew that it annoyed him. It was one thing when they were all forced together; to choose to be wasn't acceptable.

Ravan wasn't their friend. At all. He was a jerk that they sometimes hung out with. Maybe. Including him in their clubhouse preparations felt like a huge violation to him. But Haven had been the one to come up with the idea and she claimed they needed him (he was the one with access to blades, to assist them in readying). Until she got tired of the other boy and got into a big enough blowout that he was forced to leave, they were stuck with Ravan.

Unless he decided to voluntarily leave, that is.

He didn't though, of course. Though Navi kind of wanted to, she felt stuck in that it was , well, her parents home. Or at least her dad's. Abandoned or not. She didn't think that the man would mind much, if he found out what the kids were doing. Even if she wanted involved. But still.

The water damage inside of the place was unimaginable. When the kids had finally cleared enough to get inside, they all seemed to balk even more at the idea that this could ever, at all, possibly be somewhere they willingly hung out. But Haven had that resolve about her that day and, from she and Locke's bag, they only produced nails and screws and hammers and a little hatchet that Locke said his mother kept in case of emergencies.

"What kind of emergencies?" Navi asked with a bit of a frown.

"I dunno," he admitted. "I guess one where you'd need to hatchet something."

"Maybe she'd hatchet someone if they attack her," Haven suggested. "Since she's not a very good mage."

And then she and Locke started fighting and, well, it wasn't like they ever weren't, anyways.

It was useful, anyways. Or at least fun. A lot of furniture was moldy and gross and Ravan suggested chopping it up, then using the undamaged wood to help rebuild the huge hole in the roof and wow, this was starting to sound a lot like work. Haven liked it even less when she actually was forced to help out rather than just half ass it.

The day wore on and the kids wore on one another. Eventually though, they knew that they had to head home. And after agreeing to meet back up the next day, they split up for the most part, though Locke and Haven headed together back to the guild, once more to request permission to spend the night together.

"To train," Locke insisted to the Master when he seemed skeptical that the two of them were actually getting along well enough for this. The last thing Laxus wanted was to have to come and get Haven from the Redfox house. He'd avoided, for the most part, being over there often. Gajeel still was far from one of his favorite people in the hall. "In the woods. Early in the morning. We did it today."

"Yeah," Haven agreed and Laxus could only nod because, yeah, they did seem to have. They stunk, anyways, of grass and dirt and just seemed overall worn out.

"If it's okay," the man said around his cigar (the demon wasn't working the bar that day, so he could smoke as much as he wanted) , "with your parents, Locke."

It was. Not that they too weren't skeptical, but Gajeel was going out on a job, anyways, and hardly seemed to care while Levy only seemed glad they'd both arrived back into town eventually.

"Try and check in some though tomorrow, huh?" she suggested weakly as Pantherlily only snickered where he sat with the pair.

"We feared, Locke," he added, "that you had taken her into the woods and murdered her."

Haven frowned, first at the Exceed then at Locke, the latter of which grinned sheepishly at her. Gajeel though, after downing half his mug of ale, spoke to the pair on a different matter.

"Why," he griped simply, "do ya smell so much like the Salamander? You ain't trainin' with him, are ya, Locke? Fuckin' turncoat. The both of ya."

"No, sir," Locke was quick to argue. "We were just… Well, Navi came by and-"

"It's fine, Locke." And Levy only made a face at her husband. "You can train with anyone you want."

"If he wants to be a fuckin' turncoat," Gajeel retorted, "sure."

"Gaj-"

"Ya both stink," the man was cutting off his wife with a bit of a snort. "Hit the bath house. You ain't comin' home smellin' like that, at least."

He had a point, anyhow.

Navi had a much different homecoming, finding that everyone was home for once when she tried to sneak in. And they were waiting on her.

"Where have you been?" Lucy complained as she walked in. "Navi? You know you're supposed to tell us if you go on a job. And you didn't even do that. I went down to the guild. Were you with Haven?"

Her mother sounded pretty commanding in that moment, but it was a bit hard to be when, at the moment, she was down on the living room floor, playing with the twins. Happy was down there too while Natsu, only moments before, had been snoozing up at the couch. He sat up, at the entrance of his daughter, but only watched her with a bit of a frown.

"I was," Navi agreed with a bit of a nod. "With her and Locke and Ravan. We did train. That's all. I told Happy-"

"You did not." The Exceed didn't like being thrown under the bus. At all. "Navi."

"I did too."

"Na-ah."

"Yes."

"No."

"Stop," Lucy told them with a frown, "arguing."

"What's the big deal anyways?" Natsu, finally, just took to shrugging. Staring over at his daughter, he asked, "You weren't doing anything bad, were you?"

"No." She didn't even waiver.

"I was gone a bunch more, when I was your age," he assured her. "You should just tell your mom though, if you're going somewhere. Lucy doesn't trust you like I do."

"That's not true," his wife argued, frowning at him. "And you know it."

But Natsu only smiled at his daughter, letting her know her transgression didn't mean much. Just as quickly her mother was requesting help with dinner and Happy forgave her rather quickly too when she offered up some of her leftover snacks from earlier in the day.

She made sure to tell her mother, before bed that night, that she was going to be getting up early and training with the others in the morning.

"I just," she insisted with a bit of a frown, "don't want Dad trying to follow me."

"A no adult thing, huh?" But Lucy wasn't rebuking her. Only smiling softly as they stood in the twin's nursery, Lucy trying to get both boys settled for the night. Reaching over to gently run her fingers through her daughter's hair, she said, "Have fun."

Ravan was the only one that received praise from his guardian of sorts. Erza was very proud with how exhausted and filthy he came home.

"You have the heart of a true warrior," she insisted as she only went ot get him a towel, fresh bar of soap, and send him to the shower. "Unlike some people."

She was speaking, of course, of Kai, his little brother, who was happily stuffing his face with the dinner she'd presented him. The boy usually would have whined some, about being separated the whole day, but he'd been out with the youngest Dreyar girl, to go shopping with her Uncle Elf and the man's girlfriend Evergreen.

"Tomorrow," the younger boy insisted later in their room, "Mrs. Lissy is gonna take us with her to the market. You could go, I guess. If you wanted."

Ravan only tumbled up to his top bunk, tugging the covers over his head and only grunting against his pillow.

No.

He wouldn't be going to the stupid market.

The day was fated against them though, It started, anyways, much as the other had. That time though, Haven was ready to be stepped on and made sure to shock Locke good for his transgression. Which succeeded in them arguing as they happened upon the Dragneel girl, waiting tor hem as she always did. Ravan arrived without Erza, but with her blades, and when they arrived, their spirits weren't high, but they weren't terrible either.

It was around noon when it happened. When the unspoken between them was drug out into the open and slaughtered. They'd been getting along just to hurry along, but this wasn't an option anymore as, well…

"You did that on purpose!"

"I did not."

'You did too. You jerk!"

Ravan hadn't though, meant to swing the hatchet so close to Haven's head. Beauity in oversight, of course, but still. He hadn't even touched her with it. But Haven, who'd already caught onto Locke purposely stepping on her before, could smell a mutiny when it was brewing right under her nose.

And she was _not_ going to let this go without a fight. But the only approach Haven had ever learned was a scorched earth one and, well, when you accuse your whole workforce of conspiring against you, it never goes well.

The worse affront, honestly, for Locke, was that she was lumping him in with the other boy.

It all kind of fell apart from there. The three of them were fighting, Navi, who'd been apprehensive towards the entire thing, was less than thrilled with all of this and voiced it, which caused Haven to lump her in with them as well.

She never had, actually, considered that it wouldn't be the others that ended their little union. She still didn't see it as being so. Haven thought that they all were honestly attempting to undermine her. She wasn't sure why or how, but she could just feel it.

When all the kids returned home that day, they were bruised and bloodied not from 'training', but rather truly having an all out war with one another. Even Navi got drug into it. No one was home, actually, when she arrived, and she only sealed herself off in the bedroom to cry a bit, as she did sometimes, when she felt as if the others were all just being too unfair towards her.

They typically were.

Locke had a habit of sticking up for her, against Haven and Ravan, but when he was getting enough of it from the others, his own neck was just as important, if not more. And okay! Fine! Maybe he didn't wanna be the nice guy all the time. It wasn't fair. Everyone always wanted him to be neutral and kind and respectful and mature because he was older, but he was just a kid too. He could get upset too. He could make mistakes too. When he was fighting against Ravan and Haven, rather than unified with the latter, it only made him angrier. Work in all the manual labor they were (honestly poorly) doing, and, well, yeah, they were all a bit high strung that day.

He was glad to find his father out on a job and his mother not around when he got to the guild as no one really noticed how weepy and upset he looked, when he snagged the first job he saw up on the board and took it to Mirajane to fill. She did note his appearance and questioned him on it, but he only grumbled something about needing jewels and, well, she had a busy bar to contend with. She did realize the aggravation she'd be in for, at home later, where a no longer welcome, no doubt, at the Redfox's Haven would be a bigger brat than usual.

She was too, all wound up and angry and had vowed to never have another friend, to poor Laxus, who was only trying to spend some quiet time at home. Not get caught up in playground drama. Of which Haven offered up little. Only veiled threats and desires to runaway to a better guild that didn't have a bunch of babies on it.

The slayer tried hard not to let on that he too had a deep desire for much of the same.

Ravan didn't cry and whine though, like the others. He was sulky though, sitting out on the front porch with a glare when Erza returned from her midday workout. She made a face at him, but didn't question as to his well-being. Only remarked that he did not look half as worn out as the day before and he was to come with her, to the backyard.

"We will work on your sword training," she insisted. "Before your brother arrives back home." She paled then. "He and I have...plans."

Horrible plans that involved him trying very hard (and yet failing) to properly shine her weapons for an allowance. Marin's birthday was upon them and he needed more than the chump change he usually got. Your best friend only had a birthday, like, once a year, after all. If you didn't splurge for that, what did you splurge for?

Still, Erza worked Ravan like a dog, like always, and the bruises he had from the other kids, the pain that they caused him, they had nothing for the animosity he could feel for the woman in those moments. He hated her, even, maybe, then. For awhile.

He sulked even more when Kai got home, which was Erza's cue to go find some weapons for the boy. Ravan didn't even try and steal none, when she unlocked her big weapons shed in the backyard. Just sat on the back porch steps, glaring. Kai was happy, anyways, as he ran inside to get to work. Erza followed, of course, but paused some, one foot on the bottom step, just staring down at the boy beside it.

"You and your friends," she told him simply, "will get over your troubles. You always do."

He didn't have to wonder how she knew what was wrong with him. Erza seemed to know everything. Always. It was another thing he hated. Except, of course, that those kids were far from his friends.

Very far.

He'd never be one of them, Ravan wouldn't. He'd always be on the outside. Always. They were the slayer kids and that meant something. That set them apart. He was nobody to them. And fine, yes, he could admit it. There had been times when he'd had his own hand in slowly deteriorating his relationship with all of them, but it just wasn't fair that when he was actually trying to be kind, trying to be nice, had been nothing, but helpful the whole time, that lal Haven had to do was snap her fingers and ruin it all.

Yeah, fine, he'd almost scalped her, but honest, it was an accident.

If he really wanted to kill Haven, he could.

For some reason, that idea didn't make him feel any better though.

Navi was feeling pretty lowly as well, when her parents got home. She wasn't crying anymore, but it was pretty obvious something was bothering her. And it didn't help how they all arrived home at once, her parents, brothers, and Happy. Then they were all questioning her and it was just too much! It always was. She didn't even like Haven and Locke. Not really. Well, yeah, kind of fine, but she liked being away from the guild, the kids she knew who weren't obsessed with being more powerful and stronger than their friends, a lot better. And she found Ravan creepy.

She always had.

But she tried to be friends with Haven and Locke. She'd always been friends with Haven and Locke. They all grew up together, babysat by one another's parents since they were born, She had a lot of fun times with them. But as they grew… They were just too rough, Lucy said a lot. That was all. Locke was a boy, so he didn't know any better, and Haven was a brat, so she just didn't care. That was all.

It wasn't all though. Haven was mean. The other girl seemed to think of her and Navi as close, but Navi didn't view it this way. But look, once again, Navi tried to do the right thing, the nice thing, and allowed Haven to go muck up her father's abandoned home. And why? So that Haven could berate her about it?

She didn't tattle though. Not about the clubhouse at least. She whined to her parents about how mean the others were and Natsu only patted her on the head, telling her that it was just the Fairy Tail way; you fight with those you love. But Lucy told him not to make excuses and assured Navi, as she typically did, that no, she didn't have to play with Haven. Or Locke. Or Ravan. She didn't even have to be a part of Fairy Tail, really.

"It's what you wanted," Lucy reminded her gently. "If you decide to not want that, then-"

"Why does Navi have to leave?" Happy wasn't much help to the situation. He rarely was in any situation. "We should make the others leave!"

He would too, Happy would. For making Navi feel so low.

When they were alone later, he'd offer to beat up Pantherlily for her (or at least try), but she only snuggled him and assured him it was not something she wanted.

All the kids slept in the next day, in their own beds, none any more keen on one another than they had been the day before. Though Navi didn't awaken him by tumbling out of bed that morning, something did Happy and, as he listened, he could tell Natsu was leaving. He forced the grogginess away and hurried after the man.

"Natsu!" he called as he had to jump out Navi's window, catching the man down in the street. "Wait for me!"

"Oh, hey, little buddy." He did wait. He always would. "Though you'd wanna sleep more."

He might. First though, he needed answers.

"Where are you going?" the blue Exceed questioned as he flew over to the man. "On a job? Or training? Or-"

"No, Hap." Natsu turned to begin walking once more. "I wanna know what Navi's been doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you smell it?"

"Smell what?"

"The old house. Our house." Natsu frowned some then, his feet finding the directions back to that place far easier than they did any other. "She reeks of it."

"What would she be doing there?"

"I dunno," he replied with a bit of a shrug. But he really didn't like that she was lying about it.

In the kids falling out the other day, they'd all left their stuff there. Their knapsacks, the machetes, all of it. Happy was dismayed to find the hatchet job (literally) that awaited them inside while Natsu only studied it in silence.

"What were they trying to do?" Happy asked, but Natsu only smiled, just from the thought.

"The same thing we did," he informed the Exceed simply, "when we were their age."

Most the other parents had rules and regulations and all sorts of other boring stuff for their kids to follow. Lucy included. And yeah, Natsu liked to know what Navi was up to (he mostly wanted to be involved in everything she did, honestly), but respected the idea of freedom a lot more. The only other person he knew who felt the same way as him was also one of the only other people up at that hour.

"You have arrived to accompany me on my workout." Erza almost sounded proud, but there was a hitch in her voice, just slightly, that stopped this from being true. Suspicion. "Both of you?"

"Ah, no, Erza, we haven't." Happy was quick to get that, fluttering to land just before the woman. As always, she started her morning with a quick stretch in her front yard, before her training began. "Trust me."

She did. Still, her eyes stayed on Natsu. He only grinned at her.

"Actually," he said with a bit of a grin, "we kinda need your help with something."

Erza was typically not one to deviate from her plans (or at least her workout related ones), but at the mention of it involving their kids (of which she had none, truly, but semantics were neither's strong suit), she was at least interested. Annoyed too, at first, with what she was presented, but still agreed with Natsu that it was a job the two (Happy had long flown back home, to avoid work) could get done.

It would take a few days. And more than a hatchet and some screws. But if there was anything Natsu and Erza could do together, it was complete a job.

"Now you're the one with secret training," Lucy remarked when, alone one night in the living room, he only laid with his head in her lap, blinking up at the woman. That's how he'd described it to her. Secret training. With Erza. "Sounds intense."

"It is Erza," he pointed out as she only smiled down at him.

"Yeah. I almost feel sorry for you."

"Only almost?"

But it came to an end eventually and Erza left town not soon after. There was a job that had been beckoning to her for a good while at that point. Natsu though only waited though, before bed that night, to leave a note on Navi's dresser. She awoke to it, frowning a bit at her father's obvious chicken scratch of print, but he hadn't signed it.

It said simply,

_It's all finished. Go check it out!_

For some reason, she knew immediately what he meant and heated up from the idea. That he knew. How did he know? Huh? When she'd been very careful not to tell him or-

"He worked on it all week," Happy informed her around a yawn as he sat up in bed. "He wanted to surprise you. He said he won't tell no one though. And I won't either. Honest."

She had room to doubt with the cat, but only nodded because she knew her father was nothing, if not upfront. With her. If he said that he'd never speak of a word of it, then she had nothing to worry about.

Things with the other kids had kind of blown over. Sort of. Ravan and Locke both went out on jobs and Haven went with the Master somewhere for a few days, but they were all back then, at the guildhall, and that meant it was time to make up.

The best maladjusted and stunted in their adolescence children could. Locke smiled at Navi, anyways, when she approached the table he and Haven were eating breakfast at (though not looking at one another), while Ravan was sitting with the returned Erza and his little brother, tossing random glares the others way.

Things were, shakily, back to normal.

"It's ready," was all Navi said in greeting to Haven and Locke, glancing between the pair of them. The former glared at her, but the latter was just confused. For a moment. Then they were both curious.

"Are you serious?" Haven asked and, slowly, Navi nodded.

They didn't believe her.

It was a mad dash for the trio as they fled from the hall and as Ravan only glared, Erza interrupted Kai's definitely interesting story to say, "Go. With your friends."

"What are you-"

"Go, Ravan." She sounded like she was ordering. "You will loose them if you do not hurry."

"They're not my friends."

"Go."

"Where's he going?" Kai complained with a frown as the boy rose to do as he was told. "Can I go?"

"No." She paled again, Erza did, as she said, "You have to finish telling me about...what was it?"

"The time I caught, like, the biggest fish ever, I swear, but it maybe got away, kind of..."

"Yes." It was hard for the woman to swallow her tea as she raised the cup to her lips. "That's the one."

Locke was kind of annoyed, when he noticed Ravan racing after them, but they were all truly doing that then, racing one another, and he didn't have time to worry about the person in last place. He was much more worried about the one he was tying for first with.

"I," Haven panted when they came upon the humble shack, "got here first."

"You did not!"

They for got for a second all about the dumb clubhouse pipe dream and only glared at one another. Ignoring Locke and Haven though, Navi only rushed right over to the front door and threw it open.

It was barren, of course. Natsu and Erza had gotten rid of most everything, given how damaged and rundown it all was. Natsu had Happy come by to help him get their final trinkets and keepsakes before this and even dug up his last bit of treasure in the yard.

"Are you sure, Natsu?" Happy had asked, that day, as he rode on the man's head. They were going back home. Their real home. And leaving their many removed by that point one behind. "That you wanna do this?"

"Of course I am, Hap." He even tossed up a fist. "We don't need it anymore. It's Navi's turn. Then when she's done with it, she can give it to Iggy and Lucky. And then...well… I dunno. I'll worry about that later."

"Or forget about it."

Even better.

"You," Haven accused as, after a glaring match, Locke and she went to look inside as well, "told."

"I did not!" Navi was fearful of such a reaction. "I didn't! I-"

"The whole in the roof is gone!" Locke was more amazed than anything. "And someone patched up that hole in the wall. And the other hole in the wall. And that one. And hey, the floor doesn't have a hole in it anymore either! And yeah, all the stuff is gone, but someone cleaned up the fire pit outside and look, they left the table over here and-"

"Shut," Haven ordered, "up."

His excitement was ruining her foul attitude.

"I didn't tell," Navi kept insisting as Locke just grinned. He didn't really care, anyways, about the whole secretiveness of the whole thing. He was just glad to have somewhere to hangout that wasn't the guildhall. "Honest. I don't know who did this."

Haven didn't either, really, though if she had to take a wild guess, she'd definitely pin it on Natsu. Still, her work (or the work she'd been hoping to force the others to do) was done and that was a big weight off her shoulders. Now she could get back to what she did best; commanding the other's lives.

Ravan, who stood in the doorway of the shack, mostly ignored by the others, only glanced around. He knew exactly who had done it.

He'd left her machetes there, Erza's, and she'd been none too pleased to not have them returned to her. But he wasn't talking to the other kids anymore, at the time, and couldn't tell them that he needed one of them to show him how to get back to the little rundown home. No. He couldn't. But Erza never mentioned it outside of that first day.

Which made sense.

If she'd gone to the home and gotten her machetes back.

"Why," he asked when he arrived back at home later that day to find her there, going over a map of some sort, no doubt for an upcoming job she planned to take, "did you fix up Navi's dad's old house?"

Erza hardly glanced up at him as she remarked simply, "It is not good to lie to your master, Ravan."

"You're not my master! I don't have a- Well, Master Laxus is, at the hall, I guess, but-"

"Growing boys and girls need a place to get away from the stresses of life. I, as an adult, am afforded many avenues to relieve such burdens. You are not." Erza only shrugged as he came to stand before the kitchen table. "You and your friends now have a place to do just that."

"They're not my friends."

"And I am not your master." Erza regarded him closely then. "If you are worried that I will tell them-"

"You can't."

"I won't." She shrugged some before going back to her map. "I still expect you to take jobs, Ravan. Serious ones. Not waste your days hiding out. And you will take your brother there, eventually."

"What? No way, Erza! I-"

"You will."

He would. Not that it mattered, anyways. The no adult ban was still high on the list, but the no little kid one went out the window the second Haven realized she could use Marin and Kai's arms in assisting them with bringing stuff all the way out to the clubhouse. They needed snacks and magic books and games and all sorts of other stuff that she didn't feel like lugging around all by herself. She couldn't make Locke do _all _the work.

Just most of it.

."Hey, Locke, answer me somethin', huh?" Gajeel complained one day as the boy was none too slyly (and yet undetected by his mother, who was buried in a book, and father, who was coming inot the kitchen to gripe at the boy) filling a backpack full of stuff from the pantry. "Where have all my nails and screws gone? I had boxes of them and they're all gone! Just what did ya do with 'em?"

"I didn't do nothing with them," he lied, so easily then.

It was only his mother that he feared doing that to.

Luckily, Gajeel was so worked up by the theft that he only nodded along. "I was that damn cat. I know it was you, Lily! What'd you take 'em for? Huh?"

"I didn't take anything!"

Locke left before hearing the resolution that that one, but, well, it was for the best.

Navi found her parents were distant as well, in their normal ways (they were kind of busy, taking near constant jobs and taking care of the babies), but her mother did grin at her, one afternoon, when she came home for lunch.

"You look happy," she remarked and Navi was quick to nod. It was their first time being alone, really, in a bit, as the twins were already down for their nap and Natsu and Happy had just left with Erza and Gray on a new job. "I guess you and your friends are all made up now?"

The nod was slower then, but still, Navi answered in the affirmative. Lucy only joined her at the table after presenting the girl with her lunch, at which point, while toying absently with the ring on her finger, speaking.

"I didn't have a lot of friends, when I was your age," she admitted to the girl who, actually, was pretty interested in her lunch. Still, she did glance up at her mother who only grinned at her once more. "But your father, he was already in the guild by then., I would guess. He's not the best with time."

Navi knew that well.

"But they were always fighting, back then," Lucy went on, back to her main point. "From all the stories I've heard. That's just the way they all are. So loud and abrasive. I dunno if I would have been able to hack it, back then."

"I bet you would," Navi insisted.

"You think so?"

Nodding, she said, "If you were meant to be there, then you'd be there. Right?"

That made Lucy laugh some before agreeing. Then, glancing off, she said, "There's nothing wrong with being a softer person though, Navi. Not everyone had to be loud and abrasive. You don't constantly have to fight. It's okay to not like it."

Eyes falling to her plate, Navi whispered, "They're just all jerks sometimes. Is all."

"Knowing all their parents like I do, I can figure that, yeah." Still, Lucy reached across the table to gently ruffle her daughter's soft, pink locks. "They'll grow out of it. And when they do, you'll all be the closest of friends and appreciate all this stuff right now. I promise."

Navi wasn't so certain about that, but much like with her father, if her mother promised it, then she meant it. And if Lucy believed it, Navi could force herself to as well.


End file.
